THE 


/ / 


KANSAS  NNFVERSITY 
SCIEN 


LLETIN. 


Vjfl.  V,  NoVl — October,  1909. 

(Whole  Series,  Vol.  XV,  No.  1.) 


CONTENTS: 

The  Dakota-Permian  Contact  in  Northern  Kansas,  . F.  C.  Greene. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY, 

LAWRENCE,  KAN. 


Entered  at  the  post-offiee  in  Lawrence  as  second-class  matter. 


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THE  KANSAS  UNIVERSITY 
' SCIENCE  BULLETIN. 

Vol.V,  No.  1]  OCTOBER,  1909.  [voTxv.^nTI 


THE  DAKOTA-PERMIAN  CONTACT  IN  NORTHERN 

KANSAS. 

BY  F.  C.  GREENE. 

Plates  I to  IV. 

INTRODUCTION. 

TOURING  the  summer  of  1906,  while  working  on  the  Uni- 
versity  Geological  Survey  of  Kansas,  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  J.  w.  Beede,  the  Permian-Cretaceous  contact  in  Kansas, 
north  of  the  Smoky  Hill  river,  was  mapped.  The  most  of  the 
northern  third  of  the  region  was  mapped  jointly  with  Doctor 
Beede  and  the  remainder  mapped  individually,  in  alternate 
stretches. 

The  region  covered  in  this  account  lies  in  Washington,  Riley, 
Clay,  Dickinson  and  Ottawa  counties,  and  is  included  in  the 
Washington,  Marysville,  Clay  Center,  Abilene,  and  a corner 
of  the  Minneapolis  topographic  sheets  of  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey.  The  area  lies  in  the  drainage  basins  of  the  Little 
Blue,  Republican,  Smoky  Hill  and  Solomon  rivers. 

The  topography  is  characterized  by  bold  bluffs  of  the  Da- 
kota sandstone  and  smaller  benches  of  the  harder  Permian 
limestones  and  shales.  There  is  one  peculiar  feature  of  the 
topography  throughout  the  region:  northern  slopes  of  the 
divides  are  generally  steep,  while  the  southern  slopes  are  very 
gradual,  and  often  without  rock  exposures.  The  effect  is  as 
if  the  land  had  been  tipped  to  the  south,  or  as  if  there  had  been 
an  interruption  of  a southeastern  drainage  which  turned  the 
master  streams  to  the  east,  thereby  causing  the  streams  to 
erode  their  southern  banks. 

In  regions  of  the  Dakota  formation,  this  often  results  in 


2 


KANSAS  UNIVERSITY  SCIENCE  BULLETIN. 


an  extensive  series  of  low  hills,  composed  entirely  of  loose 
sand,  such  as  are  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  Abilene. 

In  the  extreme  northern  part  of  the  state,  the  country-rock 
is  overlain  by  the  glacial  drift  of  the  Kansan  ice  sheet.  At 
the  points  where  the  contact  crosses  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
line,  the  original  topography  and  geology  are  obscured  by 
drift,  60  to  100  feet  in  Jiickness,  as  observed  from  well  bor- 
ings. 

GENERAL  SECTION. 

Pleistocene. — Glacial  drift  of  Kansas  sheet  and  loess  (?)  ter- 
races. 

Cretaceous. — Dakota  formation,  sandstones  and  clays. 

Permian. — Limestones  and  shales. 

Permian. — No  attempt  was  made  to  distinguish  between  the 
formations  of  the  Permian,  but  it  was  necessary  to  note  such 
local  aspects  as  would  help  in  determining  the  contact  line. 
There  is  everywhere  an  unconformity  of  considerable  relief 
between  the  Permian  and  Cretaceous  systems;  which  repre- 
sents in  time  the  Upper  Permian,  Triassic,  Jurassic  and  Co- 
manche Cretaceous. 

The  relief  of  this  unconformity  amounts,  in  places,  to  nearly 
100  feet  in  the  distance  of  a quarter  of  a mile.  In  one  place 
(two  miles  northeast  of  Emmons,  Washington  county)  there 
is  a Permian  monadnock  which  has  patches  of  Dakota  lying 
here  and  there  on  its  sides,  owing  to  erosion  since  Dakota 
times.  This  results  in  exposures  of  Permian  above  the  level 
of  the  surrounding  Dakota.  Similar  conditions  on  a smaller 
scale  are  found  elsewhere. 

Owing  to  this  unconformity,  the  section  of  the  Permian  dif- 
fers in  places,  the  Permian  having  been  eroded  before  the 
deposition  of  the  Dakota  to  a lower  horizon  in  some  places 
than  in  others.  The  result  of  this  is  that  the  Permian  is  rep- 
resented at  the  contact  by  different  horizons,  none  of  which  are 
present  over  very  large  areas.  At  most  places  a series  of  thin- 
bedded  limestones  and  shales  was  present  at  the  contact,  but 
in  others  a very  porous  limestone,  evenly  bedded  red  and 
yellow  shales,  or  blue  clay  shales,  represent  the  horizon  of  the 
Permian  present  at  the  contact.  Over  the  whole  area  the  Per- 
mian beds  appear  to  be  very  evenly  stratified. 

The  following  section,  taken  from  a cut  on  the  Burlington 
railroad  about  two  miles  northwest  of  Hanover,  Washington 


GREENE : DAKOTA-PERMIAN  CONTACT. 


3 


county,  shows  a typical  succession  of  the  Permian  beds  of  that 


region : 

10.  Limestone,  thin-bedded,  and  yellowish  shales 5 ft. 

9.  Limestone,  massive  6 in. 

8.  Shales,  calcareous  olive-gray,  with  limestone  about  four  feet 

from  bottom  16  ft. 

7.  Limestone,  grading  through  marly  concretions  to  marly 

shales  1 ft. 

6.  Shales,  marly  gray  4 ft. 


5.  Shales,  red,  evenly  bedded,  with  occasional  indurated  bands; 
in  the  lower  portion  are  two  layers  of  very  impure  semi- 
crystalline limestone  or  dolomite,  apparently  thrown  down 
by  precipitation.  There  are  also  four  or  five  very  thin  lay- 


ers of  greenish  shales 15  ft. 

4.  Covered  10  ft. 

3.  Limestone,  two  layers,  separated  by  bluish  shale;  upper  lime- 
stone hard 31  ft. 

2.  Shales,  olive,  indurated 4 ft. 

1.  Shales,  yellow  calcareous  and  argillaceous  limestone 2 ft. 

Covered  slope  below. 


The  character  of  the  Permian  from  a little  different  horizon 
is  shown  in  a section  from  the  north  bank  of  Mill  creek,  near 
the  middle  of  section  13,  Charleston  township,  Washington 


county : 

7.  Covered. 

6.  Limestone,  light  buff,  cellular,  rather  thin-bedded 8 ft. 

5.  Shales,  bluish  and  yellowish 13  ft. 

4.  Limestone,  blue,  laminated,  fossiliferous 4 in. 

3.  Shales,  bluish  3 ft. 

2.  Limestone,  hard,  buff,  fossiliferous 8 in. 

1.  Shale,  blue,  and  covered  slope  to  water  level 17  ft. 


Cretaceous-Dakota—  The  prominent  bluffs  of  this  forma- 
tion are  composed  of  a deep-red  or  brown,  rather  coarse- 
grained, ferruginous  sandstone.  For  this  reason  the  forma- 
tion is  often  spoken  of  as  the  Dakota  sandstone,  but  this  is 
a misnomer,  as  the  bulk  of  the  formation  is  probably  not  a 
hard  sandstone,  but  clays  and  shales.1  Other  exposures  vary 
greatly.  In  fact,  it  is  hard  to  imagine  a formation  of  a more 
diversified  character.  It  gives  much  evidence  of  being  a shal- 
low-water deposit,  such  as  would  be  formed  along  shores  and 
in  small  estuaries  by  delta  deposits,  etc.  Both  the  nature  of 
the  deposits  and  the  fossil  content  bear  out  this  statement. 
The  land  mass  was  probably  a short  distance  east  of  the  pres- 
ent eastern  outcrop,  as  the  Dakota  becomes  more  evenly  strat- 


1.  Gould.  Trans.  Kan.  Acad.  Sci.,  XVII,  pp.  122-178.  1901. 


4 


KANSAS  UNIVERSITY  SCIENCE  BULLETIN. 


ified  to  the  west.  The  fossils  consist  of  the  leaves  of  such 
genera  as  Quercus,  Sassafras,  Salix,  Ficus,  Protophyllum, 
Platanus,  Betulites,  etc.,  all  land  plants. 

Near  the  contact  line  the  diversified  nature  is  well  shown. 
Yellow,  red,  brown  and  white  sandstones  are  found,  both  con- 
solidated and  loose.  These  colors  may  be  in  separate  layers 
or  all  in  the  same  stone,  in  a space  six  inches  square.  In  places 
a conglomerate  predominates.  In  Charleston  township,  Wash- 
ington county,  about  a quarter  of  a mile  west  of  the  line  be- 
tween sections  23  and  24,  there  are  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet 
of  variegated,  multi-colored  clays,  such  as  are  typical  of  the 
Dakota  a little  west  of  Brookville,  Saline  county.  The  local 
name  for  this  is  “rainbow”  clay,  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow 
being  jumbled  into  a variegated  mass.  There  is  no  consist- 
ency in  the  structure  in  the  easternmost  outcrop  of  the  Da- 
kota. Within  a quarter  of  a mile  a road  may  cut  through 
both  a deposit  of  hard  dark-red  sandstone  and  a light-colored 
clay.  In  the  sandstone  cross-bedding  is  very  much  in  evi- 
dence. In  places  large  nodules  of  iron  pyrites  are  found,  while 
iron-oxide  concretions  of  various  sizes  and  shapes  interest  the 
inhabitants  throughout  the  region. 

The  loose  Dakota  sands  wash  far  down  over  the  Permian 
and  often  obscure  the  contact. 

As  the  sandstone  is  very  porous,  while  the  limestones  and 
shales  of  the  Permian  are  impervious,  springs  are  found  along 
the  contact  line  and  are  helpful  in  locating  it. 

Pleistocene. — Glacial  drift  of  the  Kansan  ice  sheet.  This 
formation  overlies  the  five  northern  rows  of  townships  in  the 
region  mapped.  It  is  as  diversified  in  character  as  the  forma- 
tions underlying  it.  Besides  the  sands  and  boulders  of  quartz- 
ite, greenstone,  granite,  etc.,  it  is  composed  of  fragments  of 
Permian  and  Dakota  rocks,  the  latter  generally  forming  the 
bulk  of  the  deposits.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
Dakota  formation  extends  some  distance  to  the  east  in  the 
region  north  of  Kansas,  thus  lying  directly  in  the  path  of  the 
Kansan  ice  sheet.  In  the  region  of  Hanover  (and  several 
other  places)  these  materials  have  been  cemented  together  into 
a conglomerate.  Variegated  clays  and  other  clays,  resembling 
those  of  the  Dakota,  have  been  deposited  in  places. 

This  causes  some  very  perplexing  problems  in  locating  the 
contact  in  the  drift-covered  region.  In  the  first  place,  it  ob- 


GREENE : DAKOTA-PERMIAN  CONTACT. 


5 


scures  the  underlying  formations  over  large  areas,  and  in  the 
second,  it  contains  deposits  of  clay,  sand  and  conglomerate 
almost  identical  with  those  of  the  Dakota.  However,  if  there 
are  any  wells  present,  the  water  will  be  hard  in  the  drift  and 
soft  in  the  Dakota  sandstone. 

Other  Deposits  of  the  Pleistocene. — In  much  of  the  region 
along  the  west  side  of  Mill  creek  in  Washington  county  there 
are  hfteen  feet  of  very  sandy,  jointed  clays,  gray  above  and 
brown  beneath,  overlying  the  plain  sloping  towards  the  creek. 
This  deposit  may  be  due  to  the  changes  which  seem  to  have 
been  made  in  the  direction  of  Mill  creek  in  glacial  times.  The 
topography  and  geology  suggest  the  possibility  that  Mill  creek 
once  liowed  southeast  from  Washington,  with  a large  branch 
from  the  north  joining  it  just  east  of  Washington,  while  a 
small  stream  used  the  present  outlet  of  Mill  creek  into  the 
Little  Blue  river.  There  is  a channel  beneath  Greenleaf,  nearly 
100  feet  deep  and  filled  with  glacial  debris,  as  shown  by  the 
wells  supplying  water  to  Greenleaf.  Along  the  railroad  be- 
tween Washington  and  Greenleaf  there  are  no  exposures  of 
rock  in  place,  but  as  the  region  was  not  carefully  studied  this 
evidence  is  not  conclusive.  Glacial  damming  of  this  stream 
in  the  region  southeast  of  Washington  may  have  formed  a 
lake  which  sought  an  outlet  to  the  north  in  the  present  valley 
of  Mill  creek. 

If  these  suggestions  are  true,  it  was  probably  in  this  lake 
that  these  deposits  were  formed. 

West  of  the  Republican  river  at  Clay  Center  the  river  bluffs 
are  terraces  composed  of  loess-like  material  with  calcareous 
concretions,  and  native  rock  below.  They  rise  to  a height  of 
forty  to  sixty  feet  at  the  edge  of  the  river  bottom,  and  are  higher 
here  than  farther  back.  There  is,  as  a rule,  a fair  back  slope 
of  the  terrace  to  the  hills  of  the  Dakota  to  the  west,  and  the 
junction  is  usually  occupied  by  streams  or  branches  of  them 
and  the  drainage  is  away  from  the  river  down  the  terrace, 
which  has  a maximum  width  of  three  miles. 

It  may  be  that  this  deposit  is  the  same  material  as  that 
which  is  known  as  '‘plains  marl”  in  the  western  part  of  the 
state.  In  regard  to  the  latter,  Professor  Haworth2  believes  it 
to  have  had  the  same  origin  as  that  of  the  Tertiary  mortar 


2.  Univ.  Geol.  Surv.  of  Kan.,  vol.  II,  p.  276. 


6 


KANSAS  UNIVERSITY  SCIENCE  BULLETIN. 


beds,  and  thinks  it  probable  that  many  of  the  properties  of  the 
plains  marl  are  largely  due  to  the  action  of  wind. 

In  the  region  mapped  the  loess  was  found  in  valleys  having 
a north-and-south  direction.  This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
a wind  from  the  west,  carrying  the  material,  would  deposit  it 
in  valleys  lying  north  and  south,  while  it  would  not  accumulate 
in  valleys  having  an  east-and-west  direction. 

DISCUSSION  OF  THE  MAPPING. 

The  mapping  began  at  the  Kansas-Nebraska  line.  Here  the 
contact  was  concealed  by  60  to  100  feet  of  drift.  Just  west  of 
the  Little  Blue  river,  opposite  Hollenberg,  the  Permian  was 
exposed  near  the  1300-foot  contour,  while  east  of  this  town  the 
Dakota  rocks  were  exposed  near  the  same  level.  Thus,  in  a 
general  way,  the  contact  is  at  the  1300-foot  level  between  the 
state  line  and  Washington  west  of  the  Little  Blue.  On  the 
west  bank  of  Mill  creek  there  is  a deposit  of  Pleistocene,  cover- 
ing the  slope.  The  region  is  mapped  as  Cretaceous  rock, 
though  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  is  material  washed  from 
the  higher  hills  to  the  west.  A tongue  of  Dakota  extends  north 
in  the  area  between  Mill  creek  and  this  river.  If  the  sugges- 
tion that  Mill  creek  formerly  had  its  outlet  to  the  south  is  true, 
this  tongue  would  probably  be  an  outlier. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  Little  Blue  are  outliers  within  six 
miles  north  and  south  of  Hanover,  but  inside  the  boundaries 
of  Washington  county.  South  of  Washington  the  contact  rises 
nearly  to  the  1400-foot  line,  but  west  of  that  place  pitches 
down,  so  that  the  Permian  extends  up  Mill  creek  only  two 
miles.  The  contact  is  found  in  the  valley  of  Beaver  creek,  at 
an  elevation  of  about  1375  feet.  At  Greenleaf,  owing  to  the 
presence  of  the  old  channel  noted  above,  neither  Permian  nor 
Dakota  is  exposed,  but  the  former  is  only  thirty  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  town  a few  miles  east  and  west.  Across  this 
area  the  contact  is  dotted. 

From  Greenleaf  to  Clifton  there  is  a continuous  dip  to  the 
west.  There  is  an  outlier  of  Dakota  in  the  vicinity  of  Chep- 
stow, and  it  also  extends  south  into  the  extreme  northwest 
corner  of  Riley  county,  south  of  Kimeo.  West  from  this  point 
to  Clifton  the  contact  lies  mostly  in  the  northern  row  of  town- 
ships of  Clay  county. 

In  the  Republican  valley  the  contact  is  concealed  by  a de- 


GREENE : DAKOTA-PERMIAN  CONTACT. 


7 


posit  of  loess-like  terrace  material  and  alluvium,  but  a few 
miles  east  of  Clifton  it  is  found  at  the  1280-foot  contour,  and 
probably  crosses  the  river  about  a mile  southeast  of  Clifton. 
West  of  the  Republican  river  the  Dakota  is  found  as  a thin 
sheet  on  the  terrace,  as  shown  by  well  borings.  Here  the  con- 
tact is  at  about  the  1240-foot  mark,  but  rises  steadily  to  the 
south  until  the  divide  south  of  Manchester  is  reached,  where  a 
height  of  1360  feet  is  reached.  There  is,  however,  a constant 
westward  dip,  so  that  the  contact  never  extends  very  far  west 
in  the  valleys  of  eastward  flowing  streams.  In  the  region  just 
described  the  contact'passes  near  Idana,  Oak  Hill,  Longford 
and  Manchester. 

East  of  the  Republican  river,  in  Clay  county,  the  Dakota 
forms  a large  outlier  about  three  miles  northwest  of  Green. 
Here  the  contact  is  nearly  up  to  the  1400-foot  contour.  From 
this  outlier  west  to  the  Republican  river  the  dip  of  the  Per- 
mian is  clearly  and  distinctly  shown. 

From  Manchester  to  Abilene  the  Dakota  lies  on  a narrow 
divide,  but  at  its  southern  extension  expands  into  a large 
area.  In  this  area  it  is  very  thin,  and  disappears  in  a large 
expansion  of  sand  hills,  which  may  have  originated  from 
poorly  lithified  sandstone,  or  from  stream  or  wind  sediments. 

From  Abilene  east  to  within  three  miles  of  Chapman,  sand 
and  sand  hills  occur  on  the  north  side  of  the  Smoky  Hill. 
There  is  much  doubt  as  to  the  origin  of  these  deposits.  In  this 
connection,  the  observations  of  Hay3  in  the  vicinity  of  Junction 
City  are  interesting.  He  found  sand  hills  near  Junction  City 
at  or  about  the  same  level  as  those  in  the  vicinity  of  Abilene. 
He  says:  “A  more  recent  examination  of  the  high-level  sand 
dunes  previously  referred  to  revealed  the  fact  that  they  are 
residual  beds,  resting  on  and  abutting  against  undoubted  out- 
liers of  the  Dakota.”  Two  areas  of  Dakota  are  shown  on  his 
map.  These  are  only  one-half  of  a mile  west  of  the  eastern- 
most outcrops  in  Washington  county,  although  the  trend  of 
the  eastern  outcrop  of  the  Dakota  is  southwest  throughout  the 
state. 


3.  Hay.  Geol.  of  Ft.  Riley,  etc..  Bull.  137,  U.  S.  G.  S.,  p.  28. 


2-Univ.  Sci.  Bull.,  Vol.  V.  No.  1. 


8 


KANSAS  UNIVERSITY  SCIENCE  BULLETIN. 


CONCLUSIONS. 

There  is  an  unconformity  of  varying,  but  considerable,  re- 
lief between  the  Permian  and  Cretaceous  systems. 

The  eastern  part  of  the  Dakota  sediments  was  deposited  in 
shallow  water  along  the  shore  and  in  estuaries  and  lagoons,  as 
shown  by  the  nature  of  the  formation  and  the  fossil  content. 
Some  of  them  may  be  of  sub-serial  origin. 

The  shore-line  of  the  Cretaceous  sea  was  probably  some  dis- 
tance to  the  east  of  the  main  body  of  the  Dakota  outcrop,  as 
is  shown  by  the  presence  of  outcrops  east  of  Hanover,  Wash- 
ington county,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Junction  City. 


PLATE  I. 


A.  Dakota  sandstone  resting  on  Permian  shales.  Man’s  head  in  line  with 
contact.  Spring  creek,  six  miles  north  of  Washington. 

B.  Unconformity  of  Pleistocene  on  Permian.  Ravine  running  from  left 
to  right  in  Permian  shales  with  thin  limestone  forming  the  top  crosses 
a buried  gully  at  right  angles  to  it  filled  with  Pleistocene  material, 
which  is  etching  backward.  Note  the  tipping  of  the  limestone  into 
the  old  gully  (undisturbed  by  recent  erosion).  About  three  miles  east 
of  Washington. 


Science  Bulletin,  University  of  Kansas. 

Vol.  V,  No.  1. 


PLATE  I. 


PLATE  II. 


.4.  Unconformity  of  Dakota  on  Permian  sandstone  at  contact  projects. 

Brickyard,  east  side  of  Smoky  Hill  river,  Salina. 

B.  Same.  South  end  of  same  hill  by  old  mill. 


Science  Bulletin,  University  of  Kansas. 

Vol.  V,  No.  1. 


PLATE  II. 


PLATE  III. 

.4.  Cliff  of  Dakota  sandstone.  East  side  of  Mill  creek,  northeast  of 
Washington. 

B.  Slumping  of  soft  sediments,  clays  apparently  of  Dakota  age.  Three 
miles  east  of  Washington. 


Science  Bulletin,  University  of  Kansas. 

Voi.  V,  No.  1. 


PLATE  III. 


PLATE  IV. 


A.  Slumped  soft  Dakota  clays  surrounded  by  impure  sandstone,  on  Per- 
mian floor.  Three  miles  east  of  Washington. 

B.  Alfalfa  field  on  the  wide  terrace  of  the  Republican  river,  west  of 
Clay  Center. 


Science  Bulletin,  University  of  Kansas. 

Vol.  V,  No.  1. 


PLATE  IV. 


